1. At the end of the story, the blind man, after telling the narrator not to fudge by looking too soon, finally says "Take a look. What do you think?" The narrator says:
But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
Referring to as many details in the story that you can find that might point to an explanation, discuss why the narrator thought this was something he ought to do.
2. Carver once wrote:
"It's possible, in a poem or a short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things -- a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring -- with immense, even startling power.... If the words are heavy with the writer's own unbridled emotions, or if they are imprecise and inaccurate for some other reason - if the words are in any was blurred -- the reader's eyes will slide right over them and nothing will be achieved. The reader's own artistic sense will simply not be engaged."
Pick one or two short passages from Carter's story -- at least one from near the end -- and explain how it engages your own artistic sense. Focus on the particular features of precise language that struck your attention, and unpack some of the important connotations these release, for you, that account for the passage's power.
This story strongly focused on the introspection of the narrator. I believe the narrator in the quote “I thought it was something I ought to do.” on closing his eyes, really meant that he “ought” to have some introspection. The act of closing your eyes gets rid of everything that you see to be true, and thus forces you to imagine, and actually think. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is depicted as a kind of shallow character. Being that there is no development of himself, only other characters, suggests that perhaps the narrator is not completely aware or knowing of who he is. We associate intelligence with being emotionally aware and empathetic. The narrator lacks this, by making rude comments about the blind man. He calls him “creepy,” and finds him off putting. Additionally, the narrator participates in activities such as drinking, smoking cannabis, and watching television which inhibit one’s emotional and logical intelligence by letting go of the act of thinking. He constantly searches for distractions, perhaps from self awareness to ignore who he really has become. The fact that the narrator wasn’t even given a name, shows that he could not be defined or explained because he was not yet aware of who he was himself. To finally close his eyes and be free from distractions was a kind of awakening, and taste of self awareness which is why the author thought it was something “he ought to do.”
ReplyDelete“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver incorporated the use of drugs and alcohol along with characterization of the wife’s husband to lead up to his final actions with Robert, the blind man. The wife’s husband and his wife did not seem very in love. Everything she said towards him was annoyed and she seemed much more in love with the blind man. These actions seemed to upset her husband causing him to have an attitude towards the blind man. He does things like turn on the TV and open his wife’s robe; taking advantage of the fact that he can’t see. Throughout their conversation, he is constantly drinking and eventually smokes cannabis. The man seems to either be consuming these things to either relax or become more comfortable. I believe they contribute to his mood towards the end. I think that him being loosened-up with the alcohol and drugs causes his feelings towards Robert to be less of a dislike and more that he’s very intelligent. Robert puts his fingers through his beard repeatedly symbolizing that is was very intelligent and though he could not see, his other senses were very strong. Eventually the man tells Robert about the cathedrals on the television and the man realizes Robert has never seen a cathedral before. He tries to help Robert see, but realizes that he doesn’t know much about cathedrals himself. Robert asks the man if he’s religious and the man says no. I think that when he keeps his eyes closed at the end, he’s trying to see what Robert is trying to show him; not with his eyes but more of an emotional connection. At the beginning of the story, the man says, “They’d married lived, and worked together, slept together - had sex, sure- and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding,” (Carver.) The man didn’t understand how Robert being blind could truly love someone and at the end I think he had a religious epiphany that helped him come to the realization that there was more to life than just what he saw. The words “seen” and “eyes” in this quote and throughout the story have not only the literal connotation to seeing something physically but also feeling something emotionally. The cathedral they’re showing each other in different ways is not only representative of how it looks, but the religious meaning behind it and the higher power it seems to convey. “His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now,” (Carver.) The man is experiencing something totally different from anything else he’s ever experienced. The man is drawing the cathedral with him to really feel the power it is portraying. I am curious as to what it would be like to be blind and maybe not ever see anything with your eyes, but to feel everything emotionally stronger because of the fact that you can’t use your eyes. When he says he doesn’t feel like he’s inside anything at the end, it’s almost as the blind man is showing him what heaven is with the connotation of the cathedral.
ReplyDeleteI think that the narrator thought that this was something he ought to do since he was so rude to the blind man in the beginning and also very awkward. He knows that his wife cares about Robert very much and the man finally realizes that and thinks that he owes something to the blind man. In this case he keeps his eyes closed for a little longer to show his respect towards the blind man, even though the blind man can't see that he has his eyes closed. This might provide closure for the both of them, having someone to trust and connect with, even though the wife thinks she has a stronger connection with the blind man. I think that the wife may even get a little bit jealous, she keeps bugging the blind man about going to bed, he wrote, "'Your bed’s made up, Robert, when you’re ready. It’s right next to our room at the top of the stairs. We’ll show you up when you’re ready. You wake me up now, you guys, if I fall asleep.'" She was very concerned and didn't really want to leave them alone together. She falls asleep and wakes up to find them drawing the cathedral. This is when the man is on the ground with him with his eyes closed. He is saying he is sorry for treating the man like that even though he didn't say sorry. It is almost for himself too, to find someone to connect with since he has no friends.
ReplyDelete2. In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver the author employs precise language aimed at striking the reader on an emotional level. It is often the subtle connotations of these words that give the passages their power. However, if the reader is not specifically analyzing the passage, then the meaning is lost. One such passage in "Cathedral" occurs towards the end of the short story after the narrator's wife has fallen asleep. The blind man and the narrator are sitting with the television on, and the television is showing a documentary about cathedrals. The blind man asks the narrator to describe a cathedral for him, however the narrator is unable to. "The truth is, cathedrals don't mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They're something to look at on late-night TV. That's all they are." (Carver) What would on the surface appear to be a an unremarkable conversation is actually quite a powerful and symbolic one. The cathedral automatically implies religious undertones, but that is not all it implies. If the author wanted to talk about religion he would likely gone with just a plain old church, but he did not do this. A cathedral is a very large and old stone building. This gives the feeling of it being cold, detached, and monolithic. As the narrator appears to be an atheist, and has stated that they mean nothing to him, it is likely that this is all religion appears to be to him; an ancient structure that is detached from the rest of the world. The late-night television also has a connotation of its own. Late-night TV is rarely watched for its educational content. It is watched to numb one's mind at the end of a day. It is used to forget the stress of the day, and bring that day to a close by giving you something to blankly stare at on screen. All of this together could imply a theme of religion being detached from the rest of the world, and that it is a construct used to dull the stress of everyday life. That it is Something to numb the mind.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver, I believe that the narrator thought he “ought” to keep his eyes closed for a bit longer in order to fully immerse himself into the experience of seeing with his other senses, rather than the usual sense of eyesight. This was one way to genuinely take on the persona of the blind man in his home. The blind man had a real, deep connection with the narrator’s wife, where she was undoubtedly comfortable around him and able to open up to him about anything her heart desired. This is shown through all the tapes they have sent to each other, as well as the personal information that each one contained. She could even open herself up to him about her attempted suicide, which would be a difficult topic to vocalize. This connection is also demonstrated through the caring activities that the wife does for the blind man in order to make him feel at home. This is stark contrast to the relationship that the narrator and his wife have. Their relationship is portrayed as very superficial through many scenes; the scene where the narrator flips his wife’s robe open is just one of those that show how the relationship between them may be based solely on physical appearances and activities. So, perhaps the author began to understand that having the sense of eyesight taken away, forces one to forge a deeper bond with those around them that is not based on looks, but rather personality and substance. This is why he would think it is something he “ought” to do in order to overcome his flippant attitude towards his relationship with his wife and actually begin to value her as a companion for more than just her looks.
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ReplyDelete1. The man thought he owed the blind man this because he is finally 'seeing' the world through his eyes. In the beginning of the story, the man displays very harsh, negative stereotypes against blind people, and seems to hate the blind man before he even comes over to visit. "I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed." However, as the story goes on, the man seems to have a change of heart. He finally starts to understand the world through the blind man's perspective, instead of just his own. They did consume a lot of weed, alcohol, and food, so it may be this that loosened the narrator up. Nonetheless, it really seemed they made some sort of connection between each other. It is also noteworthy that the wife seemed keen on the narrator not forming a comfortable connection with the blind man, because it made her feel less important to the blind man. "My wife opened up her eyes and gazed at us. She sat up on the sofa, her robe hanging open. She said, 'What are you doing? Tell me, I want to know.' My wife said, 'What’s going on? Robert, what are you doing? What’s going on?'"
ReplyDeleteThe narrator was never comfortable with blind people, and he had never had any experience with the blind. "I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed." He wasn't stoked about the idea of this strange blind man coming to stay in his home, and wasn't open to the chance of changing his mind about it. Even when his wife was telling the narrator about Robert, he was quick to judgement and it was evident how close-minded he was. "All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding." Instead of feeling bad for the blind man and his loss, he was appalled by the fact that basically someone could live without appearances. Once Robert showed up, the narrator made a lot of observations about him. "But he didn't use a cane and he didn't have dark glasses. Fact was, I wished he had a pair." Not only was his stereotype of the blind crushed with this one man, but the narrator was uncomfortable and wished that the blind man would cover himself so that the narrator wouldn't have to deal with looking at him. The narrator turned the TV on despite that the blind man couldn't see what was going on, he asked which side of the train he sat on, that the view was different on either side, flipping open his wife's robe, all of which is like the narrator is mocking the blind man. Once Robert and the narrator make a connection, and he closes his eyes to draw the cathedral, he realizes how closed-minded he was, and believes that he shouldn't take advantage of his ability to see, in respect for Robert, and finally understand how it may be to not have the gift of sight. Which explains why he said that he thought he ought to keep his eyes closed.
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